Improvement in houses for the management of bees



UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

MARTIN A. GLASS, OF INDEPENDENCE, IOWA.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,700, dated July 4, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN A. GLAss, of Independence, in the county of Buchanan and in the State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bee-Houses; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangement of a bee-house, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to` enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section, and Fig. 2 a side view of my bee-house. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of a hoisting-jack used in the beehouse. Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of certain boards also used therein.

A represents a house of any suitable dimensions provided with a door, B, at one end, and shelves C C around the inside, as shown in Fig. l, upon which shelves the bee-hives D D are placed. Through the sides of the house A, corresponding with the shelves C C, pass rows of tubes E E, called iiy-holes, which are for the purpose of preventing the moths from entering the bee-house. These ily-holes are made of zinc, tin, leather, or any other suita-ble material, and are about half an inch by three and a half in Width and thickness, their length depending on the thickness of the sides of the house. They are to project about one inch on the outside of the bee-house, and to run through the sides in a slanting position at an angle of about twenty to thirty degrees upward. The moths or millers light on the outside ofthe house, and cannot find their way into the iiy-holes; in fact, they are so clumsy that they cannot get into and pass up through said fly-holes into the hives. Attached under each fly-hole E is a light-board, G, for the bees to light on. This board is attached in such a manner that the bees will light on it and then fly direct into the iiy-holc, While the moths or millers will, when they get onto the said lightboard, run around it between the board, the bee house, and the fly-hole, without knowing how to get into the ily-hole or into the house through said iiy-hole. The ily-hole E passes up through the side of the house and ends on the shelf inside, so that, when t-he hives D are put on the shelves, the bees can enter the bottom of the hives. H represents a hoisting-jack, used inside the hive as a matter of convenience, so one man may raise the hive or a number of hives at a time, when one is placed on top of another, and take out any hive underneath the one raised, a-nd then easily lower the one or more raised back to take the place of that removed. The hoistingpan I is slid under the hives and attached to the jack H by heavy wires aa, attached to staples in the pan and to cross-beam b under the jack, the jack being placed, as shown in Fig. l, upon the shelf above the hive or hives to be raised, and holes being made in said shelf for the rod of the jack. The hives D D are provided with holes in the top so as to allow the bees to pass from the lower hives to the ones above. J represents a zinc or tin sheet, having its edges bent up, and is used to cover the hives when removing the one hive from off the ones underneath. K is a hive-board used in hiving the bees when they swarm. The bees are shaken onto this board or into the hive, and, by the handles d. d. on the board, the whole hive is carried and placed in the bee-house. Then the hive is taken oif this board and placed on the shelf or on top of other hives.

I do not make specific claim to the devices herein shown and described, but do claim the arrangements of the parts as constructed and for the purposes set forth.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and 4desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The arrangement of the shelves C, boxes D, pans I, hive-board K, jack H, bar b, and wires a a within the house A, all operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of January,

MARTIN A. GLASS. Witnesses:

J. M. HAsTiNGs, J. S. WoonwAnD. 

